


Nice Shot

by JQ (musicmillennia)



Series: Currents [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Agender Character, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Disabled Character, Dragon Riders, F/M, Gen, Genderfluid Character, Hurt Oliver, M/M, Multi, Pre-Slash, Snart Snark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-29
Updated: 2015-10-29
Packaged: 2018-04-28 19:14:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5102513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicmillennia/pseuds/JQ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oliver and Verdant are out of commission, so Barry and his dragon Einstein are stuck training with the guy everyone calls Captain Cold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nice Shot

**Author's Note:**

> I can't take credit for the design of Barry's dragon—I can't find the artwork though. If any of you see a Dragon!Flash on Tumblr or anywhere else, please let me know so I can credit them.
> 
> If you have any questions on my version of dragon lore, feel free to ask. Sometimes people have questions :)

Training with Oliver is—educational. Sometimes even fun. Barry can't complain about the results; he and Oliver are good friends, and whenever their academies have exchange programs, he's always excited to see him.

It's just that...how to put this?

Oliver and his dragon Verdant's strategy in battle is to live to fight another day while making certain almost none of their opponents do. That's gotten better since Felicity and her Electric Element, Tesla, came into the picture, and don't get Barry wrong, he thinks fighting to survive is a surefire way to approach a fight. But...

Okay, how about this: the guy nicknamed _Captain Cold_ is warmer than Oliver and Verdant during training. Focusing is one thing, but at least Barry knows Cold can crack a few jokes now and again. Barry doesn't expect his actual enemies to hold any conversations—for one, aerial fights don't afford many opportunities for that, let alone when Barry's Einstein doesn't have any wings.

His musings are interrupted by a butt on his arm. Speaking of.

"I'm okay," he reassures his dragon, "just thinking."

Einstein croons, ducking down to nuzzle at his rider's palm until Barry pets him. His scarlet scales are warm, tingling Barry's fingers with their underlying electrical currents. These little sparks had everyone thinking he was an Electric Element like Tesla, especially with the lightning-shaped gold striking across the red. However, no Electric Element had Einstein's Marsupial build, nor were they capable of running as fast as he could. An entirely new subcategory for Electric Elements was invented to accommodate him: Speed Element, or a Speedforce Dragon. Barry adores him with all he's got.

Sensing his thoughts, Einstein relaxes, his crooning turning into delighted trilling. Barry bumps their heads together—their preferred version of a fist-bump—with a grin.

"We'll be late for training again," he says, "race you?"

Another weird thing about this pair: they shared speed. Dr. Wells thought this was due to their being struck by the same bolt of lightning. They also share a rare symbiotic bond only achieved by deep connections forged over long years. Feelings, speed, healing—once, they even managed to switch bodies through their mental connection. Figuring out how to switch them back had been an  _absolute_ delight for everyone involved.

Einstein lets out a delighted  _Cree!_ sound at the aspect of a race. With his tiny arms, he pulls his goggles over his eyes, which are the exact shade of his rider's. Barry does the same.

"Ready?" Einstein eagerly nods, scraping his feet against the dirt that makes up the courtyard of their Central Rider's Academy dormitory. "Set...go!"

Twin flashes of lightning crackle, then the dorm is left in silence.

* * *

Oliver and Verdant await them. Unlike the first few sessions they had with the Academy's elite pair, Barry and Einstein aren't at all phased at the twin scowls.

"Late again," Verdant rumbles, xir voice relating how much trouble they were in.

The pupils merely smile. Einstein may not be able to speak—one thing the lightning didn't fix was his ability to talk as others do—but the first and most important thing he learned from Barry was how to smile. Something no other dragon he'd seen could do quite like him.

"Yeah, but only by like a minute this time," Barry chirps. Yet he loses his grin when he sees Verdant's wing. "Whoa, are you okay?"

He doesn't know how he could have missed it; he blames to adrenaline from the race. Verdant isn't exactly small: where Einstein is roughly the size of a horse, xe's full height would take twelve horses to reach. It's not as large as other dragons, but xe doesn't need to be huge. Lithe and lean, xe is built to survive under harsh conditions: xir jade scales with metallic silver talons and underbelly are covered with scars from the time xe was on the Island. Nevertheless, xir gold eyes and arrowhead tail twitch at the mention of the large white bandages flecked with splotches of red. Oliver rests a tense hand on xir chest.

Now that he's looking, Barry also sees Oliver's arm is in a sling. He's sporting quite a black eye too.

"Xe's fine," Oliver replies tersely, saying nothing about himself of course. "however, the doctors grounded xem for training." Barry has an inkling that he's going to quote that when he and Verdant fling themselves into battle too soon. "You'll be with Snart today, with us supervising."

Barry's mouth drops. "But he hates me!"

Oliver's mouth quirks, because he's an asshole. "All the better for combat scenarios," he quips, sounding almost cheerful at the prospect of seeing his friend getting smashed around by  _Captain Cold_.

Einstein grumbles, but he gently bumps Barry's back to follow their friends as they began the walk to the designated training ground. Barry does some grumbling himself.

* * *

Snart's Arc—which is literally short for  _Arctic_ , how very original—isn't colored like most Ice Elements. In the morning sun peeking through last night's storm clouds, ne  looks like a giant bruise: the black of nir scales gleams dark purple, dominating most of nir body, and the white of nir back spikes and curving horns, which fade into light blue, seem sickly yellow. The crystalline icicles that stick out of nir hide cause the rest of nem to seem distorted.

The sharp glacial blue of nir eyes narrow on Einstein, and all Barry can think of is a muscled man's voice saying  _"mm, puny dragon in trouble now."_ On reflex, he blindly reaches for his buddy's neck spike to reassure both him and himself that they weren't dead yet.

Arc doesn't speak much—actually, Barry's never heard nem speak. Snart usually does the talking for both of them, like Barry does for Einstein. But Einstein's brain can't let him form any actual words; Arc just hates everyone. Even when someone accidentally called nem "he," Snart was the one to sharply correct them while Arc glared at nir talons.

Barry can't hide the fact that, despite his fear, he's curious if the dragon will grace them with nir voice. In the meantime though, he nods to Snart and tries not to feel uncomfortable as his substitute partner silently assesses him.

They're not—well, Barry doesn't exactly consider them enemies. Rather, he doesn't want to, because Snart is not a man you want for an enemy, especially when Arc is structured like an actual icicle: seriously, ne can contort nir limbs until ne is a sharp point in the sky, diving straight down at nir target. Nir horns aren't just for show, and neither is that spiked tail. Yet, for whatever reason, Snart's never given Barry the time of day. They're civil with one another, but there's a—pardon the pun—frigid edge to their brief interactions.

Unfortunately, Barry knows that Arc and Snart are the best partners for training if Oliver and Verdant are out of commission. Personal acquaintance—or lack thereof—aside, Arc is the closest dragon Central has to offer when it comes to a similar build to Verdant, which is ideal for agility training. And again, Snart's good for banter, as demonstrated when he talks with his sister or his "Rogues," because of course the existence of magical creatures don't eliminate cliques at all. He's also the one with the Cold Gun, and the Ice Element dragon, both antitheses to Barry and Einstein's Speedforce.

Still, Barry almost thinks he'd prefer to be shot in the back by Oliver.

Verdant nods to the sky. "Arctic, take to the air and try to hit Einstein. Focus on where your target is  _going_ to be, rather than where he  _is_. Einstein, focus on tapping into your rider's hearing while dodging. You need to master how to do it yourself without Barry helping you. I expect you to counter at least two of Arctic's icicles with lightning."

Without missing a beat, Oliver's instructions follow, directed to Snart and Barry: "The same will go for the both of you, but I also want to see how you both are coming along with your hand-to-hand combat. Neither of you stop until one of you is unable to stand. And Barry, like Verdant said: don't help Einstein with his hearing. Battle is just as much about taking care of yourself as your dragon. Understood?"

Barry gulps. Helping Einstein's hearing is second nature to him by now. That lightning changed his build on a fundamental level; while he wouldn't have been able to speak as everyone else either way, instead of ear holes he has lightning-shaped spikes to channel electrical currents in the air, rendering him almost completely deaf. It'll be difficult not to help him, which will probably get Barry's ass kicked. 

For his part, Snart looks completely unbothered. "Yes sir," he replies with obvious sarcasm, hoisting his Cold Gun over his shoulder. "Are you ready, Scarlet?"

 _Scarlet_. Barry's still not sure if that's an allusion to his dragon's scales or an insult, so he responds with a neutral, "When you are. Einstein?"

Einstein trills happily, as if the prospect of facing Arc's legendary aim is going to be the bestest thing in the whole world. Barry kinda wants to steer him to the nearest building, wrap him in blankets, and protect him from the mean dragon currently staring at him like he's breakfast.

Snart doesn't speak to Arc, but a brief glance passes between them. It seems to be enough.

They take their positions: Arc pushes off the ground, leaving a whoosh of cold air in nir wake; Snart tosses his heavy riding parka on the fence and takes measured steps to the other side of the field; Barry and Einstein shift from foot to foot, feeling their shared lightning crackling between them, anticipating the fight.

Their overseers speak as one. "Begin!"

Barry sees it in slow motion as he kicks forward: Arc hurling nir tail, the icicles on nir hide slipping out with an audible  _shhhhink!_ noise. Einstein watches. He's as much of a genius as Barry is, so he can calculate where those shards will land, but he can't look up forever. Barry barely catches himself from projecting what he hears. He nearly gets blasted by Snart's gun as a result.

As expected, Oliver barks, "Focus, Barry! You haven't even started!"

Barry lets out a huff. At least Snart isn't smirking at him, concentrated on the task at hand.

_Sorry, buddy._

Einstein gives their bond a mental squeeze. A second later, their off in different directions.

* * *

Out of the two of them, Einstein's way better at focusing during training. That being said, while he passes Verdant's test with flying colors, throwing lightning with a toss of his head in accurate, arching strokes, he's still immensely relieved when the full force Barry's hearing reaches his repressed eardrums.

"We'll work on it," Barry promises, stroking his snout during their one minute break. It doesn't need to be said that Snart demolished him in hand-to-hand. He really wishes Oliver didn't have that cat-got-the-canary expression while he watched. It just made his beating all the worse.

"You're fast, Barry," he keeps saying, "but speed isn't everything." And whenever he gets the opportunity to show Barry he's right, oh, how happy he is.

Barry repeats: asshole.

Verdant gently brushes against Oliver's cheek—poor guy must be hurting, because Barry's never seen him drift off so quickly, even when he's resting against his dragon's side as he is now. Xe has spread gracefully across the edge of the yard, one paw crossed on top of the other regally.

"In the saddle," xe orders, though not as sternly as is xir custom.

Barry chews on his bottom lip. "I can get Diggle or Laura—"

Although Verdant's scarred eye brightens at the suggestion, Oliver forces himself to his feet and steps out from under the shelter of his dragon's good wing with a stubborn step.

"Diggle has the day off and Laura has her own training to do," he says, "and I'm fine."

Surprisingly, Snart appears at Barry's side. "I have agree with Allen on this one,  _sir_ ," wow, he really does  _not_ like authority figures, "your dragon may have got off easy, but you've got quite a list of injuries from what I hear."

Barry turns to him. "What?" he'd known Oliver's assignment had been dangerous—it'd involved the Count, for starters—but...

"He didn't tell you?" Snart's lip curls. He dips his head down, pretending to think. "What were they, again? Ah, yes. Two broken ribs, knee fracture, broken arm, multiple lacerations, and one  _very_ awful injection from our wonderful Count. Did I miss anything?"

Barry's mouth works open and closed. " _Oliver_!"

Oliver rolls his eyes. "Verdant's keeping me steady, and I can focus just fine. In the saddle, both you."

"No, I'm calling Felici—"

"Barry.  _Now_."

Snart retrieves his parka, looking entirely too pleased with himself. It's like he  _wants_ tension between Oliver and Barry. Maybe he really does hate them both.

* * *

Barry notices the slight limp in Oliver's step while he and Einstein speed around the yard now, and it irritates him to no end. Is this how Felicity feels all the time? How does she do it?

 _Einstein, you need to get Felicity._ A flood of agreement rushes warm in his head.  _I'll jump, try to get Snart's gun. You bring her back here._ A wave of concern, sharp and tangy.  _Hey, stop that. You'll catch me._

He knows that he can, it's just the notion of letting his rider leap from the saddle without an immediate safety net isn't a good one. Nevertheless, Barry readies himself and Einstein turns towards the main campus.

_Go!_

Utilizing his momentum and a little bit of lightning, Barry boosts himself from his saddle. He twists his body in the air, flinging his arm upwards to counter another barrage of icicles coming his way. His ears ring with the sound of impact as it happens far too slowly for him.

During the collision, Barry chances to look up at Snart's face. He blinks once-twice-three times at the expression he sees there: not animosity or pinched concentration, but something like...admiration?

He uses Einstein's sight to zoom in on his face. If he didn't know better, he'd say Snart looks like Eddie when he's talking about Iris—not the goofy smile, but that pure affection in his eyes. In the middle of a fight, against Barry.

Despite his speed, Barry has no time to think about it, as he finds Einstein's back and lands just in time to hear Felicity screech in alarm.

Because of course Oliver isn't supposed to be out of bed. Stubborn idiot.

As Oliver ducks his head under Felicity's worried scolding, Arc lands and Snart returns to Barry's side.

"Nice shot," he murmurs.

As if that and his fond look aren't enough to send Barry reeling again, Arc dips nir neck to look Einstein in the eye.

Ne says—clearly, so Einstein can read nir mouth just in case—"Good thinking, bringing Felicity here."

Nir voice is as soft as freshly fallen snow, not at all threatening. Barry's bond heats.

Oh no.

**Author's Note:**

> Not as much ColdFlash or Felicity as I wanted, but I'll work on it.
> 
> Thank you for reading. I want to write more of this AU, so I will, but let me know if you're on board! :D I'm all for answering prompts in Dragon AUs especially.


End file.
